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Where children learn to design better futures using new technologies. From Africa to Europe, America to Asia.

Global Children's Designathon

Join us on a mission to unleash the creativity of one million children worldwide and to teach them to become change-makers for the better future.
Children learn to design, prototype and present their solutions to the big challenges the world is facing, such as water scarcity, the circle economy, mobility and climate change.

What is Global Children's Designathon?

“Join us cultivating the next generation of Change Makers”

Anne Sallaerts, Impact Lead

Worldwide there are 2 billion children of school going age. How can we prepare them to prosper in a rapidly changing, increasingly technological and complex world? How can they learn to design a better world for themselves and the planet?

Surprisingly to many adults, when the children are asked what change they would like to see in the world, they don’t ask for more time to play or sweets, in fact they want to cure cancer or remove all plastic from the ocean. To share a few of the children's projects from the Global Children's Designathon 2017 (theme water) Children in India came up with a bio-degradable net to prevent dumping of waste in rivers, children in Holland came up with a robotic system to provide safe passage for fish through dams.

The Designathon method combines design thinking and maker education around real world challenges. A designathon is a structured workshop in which children (ages 4 - 12 years) invent, build and present their self-devised solutions to a social or environmental issue around the Sustainable Development Goals.

A workshop lasts four to six hours and is facilitated by education professionals. The experience helps children become future ready through learning to design and use technology such as mini-motors and sensors. The method was first developed in the Netherlands and tested during the first Global Children’s Designathon in November 2014.

Designathon ready to use themes include food, water, waste, circular economy and life on land or any of the Sustainable development goals.Teachers can do this in their classrooms and groups can join us for the Global Children's Designathon, every year in November.

To run the Designathon program in your class or center you need the Designathon method lesson materials, making materials, and to follow the online training and how to facilitate the children.
Contact us to sign up.